This is a rather short story that came to me on vacation, shortly after I heard a song on the radio called "Sweetly Broken" (the artist's name was Jimmy Day, or something like that. The song was on a Christian radio station, and the chorus starts out "At the cross you beckon me/draw me gently to my knees" and then there's another line that I keep forgetting, then "Sweetly broken/oh I surrender".) For some reason, the hula scene on the cliff and the ending death scene from Lilo & Stitch 2 kept popping into my head every time I heard the "Sweetly broken/oh I surrender" line. So, here is the famous death scene from Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Gets a Glitch…from Stitch's point-of-view. (Oh, yeah...there's some very slight hintings at a Lilo and Stitch pairing in this story. I know I said I was an avid supporter of Stitch/Angel, but I also lean towards Stitch/Lilo sometimes.)

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Pain. I feel pain throbbing through all of my body. My badness is finally killing me. I had deeply suspected it would; with every malfunction, I felt as though I was on fire. The adrenaline pumping through my veins that had caused me to act aggressive...there had been too much of it; now, it feelsas though every bone in my body is broken...every blood vessel ruptured...every organ baked to a crisp.

I open my eyes. Lilo is standing above me. Three scars adorn her cheek, where my claws raked across her skin during a recent badness attack. Why is she here? What if my badness returns one last time and kills her?

"No, Lilo," I say, my voice barely audible. I taste blood. My blood, pooling in the back of my throat. "Too...dangerous..."

"You're not dangerous," my Lilo, my dear, sweet Lilo, whispers, "Come on. We gotta get you into Jumba's machine!" Lilo carries me up the side of the hill to a pedestal with a glass covering. It is among the wreckage ofthe spaceship I had crashed during mylast, and fatal,badness attack. She places me in the strange contraption, and I hear it whir to life. I feel it trying to repair me, to heal my broken heart...but it is too late.

Lilo presses her hands against the glass and looks at me. "You're gonna be okay, Stitch," she says, sounding as though she is about to cry, "Please be okay."

I place one of my paws over her hand. My Lilo. My savior. How I wish I could hold your soft human hand one last time! I wish I could tell of my feelings for her, but I can't put them into words that she can understand. I can only whisper as I fade away, "Stitch...sorry..."

Blackness engulfs me.

Then light. Blessed light. I feel my strength returning, and I stand, looking at my new surroundings. There is only light, coming from seemingly nowhere, and a soft mist. "Where am I?" I ask.

"You're here," says a voice. A matronly voice.

A figure strides through the mist towards me. It is a woman...she looks and smells so familiar...like home.

I recognize her. "Mrs. Pelekai?" I gasp, "Mom?"

Mom kneels down, places one hand on my head and strokes my fur. The other hand she places on my shoulder, and she looks looks me in the eye. "Yes," she says, "I am Lilo's mother. I want to thank you, Stitch."

I look away from her soft gaze. "For what? Stitch bad."

Mom's hand comes off of myhead and turns my face back towards hers. She chuckles, and warmth fills my body. "You're not evil. Not anymore. As you would probably say, you're fluffy."

A small smile crosses my face for an instant, then vanishes again.

Mom continues, "And you have helped my daughters remember that they are 'Ohana. You have helped them learn to trust and love others again." Her eyes seem tostare off in the distance. "I've seen your future, Stitch. You will touch so many lives...lives like Lilo's, and lives like your own." She gazes back down at me. "Your time has not yet come. But, whenitdoes arrive, don't worry...you are good, and you will be welcomed with open arms."

I blink back a tear. Mom's voice had filled my heart with sadness...I could hear how much she loved Lilo and Nani...but I had alsosemsed her discouragement at the fact that she could not yet let her daughters know how much she loved them. I found myself asking her, "But...what if...Lilo...doesn't...?"

Mom smiles kindly, understanding what I cannot say. "There's something you should hear now."

I feel a voice stirring within my heart. Lilo's voice, whispering, "Stitch...I'm so sorry...I kept saying how much I needed you...but you needed me more..." She sounds so sad. "You're my 'ohana, Stitch...and I will always...love you..." Her voice fades away.

My heart soars. It had taken a time of pain, torture, and evil...but now that I have been broken...sweetly broken...I know what I needed to know.

Lilo loves me! Lilo still loves me!

I look to Mom, pleading silently to go back. Mom whispers, "Go back to her, Stitch. Protect her for me." She places a kiss on my forehead...and, the next thing I know, my eyes are closed, and I am in Lilo's arms.

Lilo has her hand over a flower that she has placed over my heart. She is crying, mourning my death. She doesn't know that I'm alive again. I place a paw over her hand and look into her beautiful brown eyes. To make my darling Lilo happy again, I say the first thing that comes into my mind:

"Stitch...not bad...Stitch...FLUFFY!"

The End